Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

GS is an easy admit, 25% of enrollment, and they take classes with the College and SEAS — that’s 1/4 of students significantly lower than Barnard.

GS are truly different students, generally 5-10 years older, adults who for a variety of reasons didn’t go to college right after high school.
often vets or people who have worked/gone to community college. They don’t live in the CC/SEAS dorms and they don’t really socialize with them.
IMO GS is real benefit to people who otherwise would likely never have access to that level of educational resources

It is 25% of the school, and it is a way of avoiding giving financial aid. GS students have more financial resources, not less, because full need is often not met. Plus, you are exaggerating their age. Many 20-year-old rich international freshmen who bought their way into Columbia GS…

Maybe you should reading the General Studies website, which will show that you are wrong..

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the undergraduate college specifically designed for students pursuing a nontraditional path to a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League education, including students who have had a break of a year or more in their educations and those enrolled in one of our innovative dual degree programs. Most GS students have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or are only able to attend part time.

Whether you've taken time off for personal reasons, parenthood, travel, or your career, the School of General Studies—Columbia University’s college for returning and nontraditional students—makes it possible for you to complete your degree at one of the finest institutions in the country. In fact, Columbia is the only Ivy League university with a freestanding college in which nontraditional students are fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students. That means that diversity at Columbia is not only measured by ethnicity and gender, but also by experience and maturity—a maturity we find leads to great academic success. At GS, you'll join a community of students who after graduation go on to pursue advanced degrees and lead stimulating professional lives.

Someone needs a lesson in statistics. The median, I can assure you, is lower than the average.

The bolded text from Columbia's website references the average age for a General Studies, which is 26. The person who doesn't understand statistics is you, because median is not the same as average. Please cite the data you have on the median age of a GS student and explain why they're as young as a typical Columbia College or SEAS applicant. You don't have that data, because as Columbia takes great pains to explain on their publicly available website, GS students are an different pool of much older applicants who are "non-traditional and usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience"

You are drinking the Columbia Kool-aid. Ask someone on campus: most GS are about 2-3 years older than typical undergrads, especially the full-timers, and the GS dual degree kids are all the same age. As for data. Hmmnnn. Columbia. Data. Transparency. I think we see the problem…

And, without the data, if you cannot see that the median is lower than the average, given a handful of middle-aged folks, you really do need to understand statistics better….

You're saying you "understand statistics," yet you are telling us to "ask people on campus" because you have no data, yet know better than the Columbia website which contradicts what you're saying. How many people on campus should we ask to have it be a representative sample that makes it more legitimate than Columbia's website? How do we know the data they report on the median age of a GS student is accurate?

If you bothered to read a legitimate source:
https://www.gs.columbia.edu/content/mission-vision-goals-"Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students."
https://www.gs.columbia.edu/content/statistics-and-facts-"The average age of a GS student is 27"

+1. The PP must have flunked statistics if they think “ask someone on campus” is a good way to get data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The subject line is troll like…
What does the “Columbia” stand for in the subject line?

Barnard is not the same as Columbia College, just like SEAS is not the same as Columbia College.

But Barnard is part of Columbia University, just like Columbia College is part of Columbia University.

And yes, Barnard is an Ivy League college.

No Barnard is not a member of the Ivy League which is by definition an athletic league with exactly 8 members Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth and Cornell. Barnard is a member of the Seven Sisters and last time I checked didn't field a men's football, basketball or hockey team. It's students do however have access to classes at an Ivy League school, Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:The subject line is troll like…
What does the “Columbia” stand for in the subject line?

Barnard is not the same as Columbia College, just like SEAS is not the same as Columbia College.

But Barnard is part of Columbia University, just like Columbia College is part of Columbia University.

And yes, Barnard is an Ivy League college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate doesn't mean much, especially when the school is test optional. The 4% acceptance rate only means a lot of underquanlified take their chances at a test optional school.

Columbia takes tons of hooked students. Selectivity doesn't equate to student quality.

That acceptance rates don't mean much is your opinion, not a fact. I disagree. Barnard is also test optional but has a much smaller applicant pool and a much higher acceptance rate (10%) than Columbia College & SEAS (4%).

And news flash--nearly every elite university takes "hooked students" if by hooked, you mean providing an admissions preference to legacy applicants, big donor kid (development admit) applicants and athletic recruits. The exceptions are Cal Tech and MIT, but every other Ivy operates the same way as Columbia.

The only ivy that's still test optional. Enough said.

Wrong again. Princeton is test optional this year as well. But it’s entertaining how you think you know things but don’t.

Are you a troll? Princeton announced they will reinstate test required. Columbia is permanently test optional.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate doesn't mean much, especially when the school is test optional. The 4% acceptance rate only means a lot of underquanlified take their chances at a test optional school.

Columbia takes tons of hooked students. Selectivity doesn't equate to student quality.

That acceptance rates don't mean much is your opinion, not a fact. I disagree. Barnard is also test optional but has a much smaller applicant pool and a much higher acceptance rate (10%) than Columbia College & SEAS (4%).

And news flash--nearly every elite university takes "hooked students" if by hooked, you mean providing an admissions preference to legacy applicants, big donor kid (development admit) applicants and athletic recruits. The exceptions are Cal Tech and MIT, but every other Ivy operates the same way as Columbia.

The only ivy that's still test optional. Enough said.

Wrong again. Princeton is test optional this year as well. But it’s entertaining how you think you know things but don’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

GS is an easy admit, 25% of enrollment, and they take classes with the College and SEAS — that’s 1/4 of students significantly lower than Barnard.

GS are truly different students, generally 5-10 years older, adults who for a variety of reasons didn’t go to college right after high school.
often vets or people who have worked/gone to community college. They don’t live in the CC/SEAS dorms and they don’t really socialize with them.
IMO GS is real benefit to people who otherwise would likely never have access to that level of educational resources

It is 25% of the school, and it is a way of avoiding giving financial aid. GS students have more financial resources, not less, because full need is often not met. Plus, you are exaggerating their age. Many 20-year-old rich international freshmen who bought their way into Columbia GS…

Maybe you should reading the General Studies website, which will show that you are wrong..

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the undergraduate college specifically designed for students pursuing a nontraditional path to a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League education, including students who have had a break of a year or more in their educations and those enrolled in one of our innovative dual degree programs. Most GS students have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or are only able to attend part time.

Whether you've taken time off for personal reasons, parenthood, travel, or your career, the School of General Studies—Columbia University’s college for returning and nontraditional students—makes it possible for you to complete your degree at one of the finest institutions in the country. In fact, Columbia is the only Ivy League university with a freestanding college in which nontraditional students are fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students. That means that diversity at Columbia is not only measured by ethnicity and gender, but also by experience and maturity—a maturity we find leads to great academic success. At GS, you'll join a community of students who after graduation go on to pursue advanced degrees and lead stimulating professional lives.

Someone needs a lesson in statistics. The median, I can assure you, is lower than the average.

The bolded text from Columbia's website references the average age for a General Studies, which is 26. The person who doesn't understand statistics is you, because median is not the same as average. Please cite the data you have on the median age of a GS student and explain why they're as young as a typical Columbia College or SEAS applicant. You don't have that data, because as Columbia takes great pains to explain on their publicly available website, GS students are an different pool of much older applicants who are "non-traditional and usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience"

You are drinking the Columbia Kool-aid. Ask someone on campus: most GS are about 2-3 years older than typical undergrads, especially the full-timers, and the GS dual degree kids are all the same age. As for data. Hmmnnn. Columbia. Data. Transparency. I think we see the problem…

And, without the data, if you cannot see that the median is lower than the average, given a handful of middle-aged folks, you really do need to understand statistics better….

You're saying you "understand statistics," yet you are telling us to "ask people on campus" because you have no data, yet know better than the Columbia website which contradicts what you're saying. How many people on campus should we ask to have it be a representative sample that makes it more legitimate than Columbia's website? How do we know the data they report on the median age of a GS student is accurate?

If you bothered to read a legitimate source:
https://www.gs.columbia.edu/content/mission-vision-goals-"Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students."
https://www.gs.columbia.edu/content/statistics-and-facts-"The average age of a GS student is 27"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate doesn't mean much, especially when the school is test optional. The 4% acceptance rate only means a lot of underquanlified take their chances at a test optional school.

Columbia takes tons of hooked students. Selectivity doesn't equate to student quality.

That acceptance rates don't mean much is your opinion, not a fact. I disagree. Barnard is also test optional but has a much smaller applicant pool and a much higher acceptance rate (10%) than Columbia College & SEAS (4%).

And news flash--nearly every elite university takes "hooked students" if by hooked, you mean providing an admissions preference to legacy applicants, big donor kid (development admit) applicants and athletic recruits. The exceptions are Cal Tech and MIT, but every other Ivy operates the same way as Columbia.

The only ivy that's still test optional. Enough said.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate doesn't mean much, especially when the school is test optional. The 4% acceptance rate only means a lot of underquanlified take their chances at a test optional school.

Columbia takes tons of hooked students. Selectivity doesn't equate to student quality.

That acceptance rates don't mean much is your opinion, not a fact. I disagree. Barnard is also test optional but has a much smaller applicant pool and a much higher acceptance rate (10%) than Columbia College & SEAS (4%).

And news flash--nearly every elite university takes "hooked students" if by hooked, you mean providing an admissions preference to legacy applicants, big donor kid (development admit) applicants and athletic recruits. The exceptions are Cal Tech and MIT, but every other Ivy operates the same way as Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

GS is an easy admit, 25% of enrollment, and they take classes with the College and SEAS — that’s 1/4 of students significantly lower than Barnard.

GS are truly different students, generally 5-10 years older, adults who for a variety of reasons didn’t go to college right after high school.
often vets or people who have worked/gone to community college. They don’t live in the CC/SEAS dorms and they don’t really socialize with them.
IMO GS is real benefit to people who otherwise would likely never have access to that level of educational resources

It is 25% of the school, and it is a way of avoiding giving financial aid. GS students have more financial resources, not less, because full need is often not met. Plus, you are exaggerating their age. Many 20-year-old rich international freshmen who bought their way into Columbia GS…

Maybe you should reading the General Studies website, which will show that you are wrong..

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the undergraduate college specifically designed for students pursuing a nontraditional path to a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League education, including students who have had a break of a year or more in their educations and those enrolled in one of our innovative dual degree programs. Most GS students have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or are only able to attend part time.

Whether you've taken time off for personal reasons, parenthood, travel, or your career, the School of General Studies—Columbia University’s college for returning and nontraditional students—makes it possible for you to complete your degree at one of the finest institutions in the country. In fact, Columbia is the only Ivy League university with a freestanding college in which nontraditional students are fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students. That means that diversity at Columbia is not only measured by ethnicity and gender, but also by experience and maturity—a maturity we find leads to great academic success. At GS, you'll join a community of students who after graduation go on to pursue advanced degrees and lead stimulating professional lives.

Someone needs a lesson in statistics. The median, I can assure you, is lower than the average.

The bolded text from Columbia's website references the average age for a General Studies, which is 26. The person who doesn't understand statistics is you, because median is not the same as average. Please cite the data you have on the median age of a GS student and explain why they're as young as a typical Columbia College or SEAS applicant. You don't have that data, because as Columbia takes great pains to explain on their publicly available website, GS students are an different pool of much older applicants who are "non-traditional and usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience"

You are drinking the Columbia Kool-aid. Ask someone on campus: most GS are about 2-3 years older than typical undergrads, especially the full-timers, and the GS dual degree kids are all the same age. As for data. Hmmnnn. Columbia. Data. Transparency. I think we see the problem…

And, without the data, if you cannot see that the median is lower than the average, given a handful of middle-aged folks, you really do need to understand statistics better….

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

+1 This. Plus Barnard is female only, and has degree requirements that are different from Columbia College (which has an extensive Core Curriculum requirements) and SEAS (the engineering school).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

GS is an easy admit, 25% of enrollment, and they take classes with the College and SEAS — that’s 1/4 of students significantly lower than Barnard.

GS are truly different students, generally 5-10 years older, adults who for a variety of reasons didn’t go to college right after high school.
often vets or people who have worked/gone to community college. They don’t live in the CC/SEAS dorms and they don’t really socialize with them.
IMO GS is real benefit to people who otherwise would likely never have access to that level of educational resources

It is 25% of the school, and it is a way of avoiding giving financial aid. GS students have more financial resources, not less, because full need is often not met. Plus, you are exaggerating their age. Many 20-year-old rich international freshmen who bought their way into Columbia GS…

Maybe you should reading the General Studies website, which will show that you are wrong..

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the undergraduate college specifically designed for students pursuing a nontraditional path to a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League education, including students who have had a break of a year or more in their educations and those enrolled in one of our innovative dual degree programs. Most GS students have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or are only able to attend part time.

Whether you've taken time off for personal reasons, parenthood, travel, or your career, the School of General Studies—Columbia University’s college for returning and nontraditional students—makes it possible for you to complete your degree at one of the finest institutions in the country. In fact, Columbia is the only Ivy League university with a freestanding college in which nontraditional students are fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students. That means that diversity at Columbia is not only measured by ethnicity and gender, but also by experience and maturity—a maturity we find leads to great academic success. At GS, you'll join a community of students who after graduation go on to pursue advanced degrees and lead stimulating professional lives.

Someone needs a lesson in statistics. The median, I can assure you, is lower than the average.

The bolded text from Columbia's website references the average age for a General Studies, which is 26. The person who doesn't understand statistics is you, because median is not the same as average. Please cite the data you have on the median age of a GS student and explain why they're as young as a typical Columbia College or SEAS applicant. You don't have that data, because as Columbia takes great pains to explain on their publicly available website, GS students are an different pool of much older applicants who are "non-traditional and usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience"

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance rate doesn't mean much, especially when the school is test optional. The 4% acceptance rate only means a lot of underquanlified take their chances at a test optional school.

Columbia takes tons of hooked students. Selectivity doesn't equate to student quality.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both schools are hard to get into, but Columbia is far more selective. Columbia's acceptance rate in 2025 was 3.9% while Barnard was 8.8%. Bright kids are present at both school, but on average, Columbia College and SEAS undergrads have higher stats upon admittance.

GS is an easy admit, 25% of enrollment, and they take classes with the College and SEAS — that’s 1/4 of students significantly lower than Barnard.

GS are truly different students, generally 5-10 years older, adults who for a variety of reasons didn’t go to college right after high school.
often vets or people who have worked/gone to community college. They don’t live in the CC/SEAS dorms and they don’t really socialize with them.
IMO GS is real benefit to people who otherwise would likely never have access to that level of educational resources

It is 25% of the school, and it is a way of avoiding giving financial aid. GS students have more financial resources, not less, because full need is often not met. Plus, you are exaggerating their age. Many 20-year-old rich international freshmen who bought their way into Columbia GS…

Maybe you should reading the General Studies website, which will show that you are wrong..

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the undergraduate college specifically designed for students pursuing a nontraditional path to a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League education, including students who have had a break of a year or more in their educations and those enrolled in one of our innovative dual degree programs. Most GS students have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or are only able to attend part time.

Whether you've taken time off for personal reasons, parenthood, travel, or your career, the School of General Studies—Columbia University’s college for returning and nontraditional students—makes it possible for you to complete your degree at one of the finest institutions in the country. In fact, Columbia is the only Ivy League university with a freestanding college in which nontraditional students are fully integrated into the undergraduate curriculum.

Because the average age of GS students is 26, they usually have 8 to 10 more years of experience in life than traditional college students. That means that diversity at Columbia is not only measured by ethnicity and gender, but also by experience and maturity—a maturity we find leads to great academic success. At GS, you'll join a community of students who after graduation go on to pursue advanced degrees and lead stimulating professional lives.

Someone needs a lesson in statistics. The median, I can assure you, is lower than the average.